Technology
The technology market in Hong Kong has been candidate short for several years. As a result of the pandemic, this trend continued through 2022.
As a result, companies experienced high turnover and difficulty hiring staff and, in turn, had to become more agile to compete for talented technologists; the competition for whom in 2022 was and remains in 2023 at an all-time high.
Key drivers/ regulations
In terms of cyber security, continuing implementation of various regulatory requirements, such as the guidance on anti-DDoS protection, payment card security, and cloud computing, among others, have contributed to the demand for talent. In fact, in 2022 alone, seven circulars or guidelines have been issued by the HKMA for implementation by its members. Recent government initiatives to turn Hong Kong into a world-class fintech hub have also given rise to an increased number of start-ups that have, in turn, contributed to hiring demand for full-stack engineers, DevOps engineers and offensive security professionals. This is further demonstrated in a speech by Finance Secretary Paul Chan, who mentioned, “Five years ago, Hong Kong counted no more than 180 fintech companies. Today, we are home to more than 800 hundred companies”.
Furthermore, in a recent survey conducted by the University of Hong Kong, Cyberport, and the Hong Kong Productivity Council, close to 60% of Hong Kong's firms are actively sourcing for fintech professionals. It also found that the technical roles most in demand included application and software developers, artificial intelligence/machine learning specialists, blockchain/digital currency specialists, system architects, cloud specialists and data scientists.